How Denmark’s Frederiksen reflects European bias over Palestine

Hours before the United Nations General Assembly on Friday voted on a crucial resolution, seeking protection of Palestinian civilians from the “brutal” Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over the phone.

Frederiksen expressed her “deep sadness over the civilian casualties,” and pledged her country’s commitment to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

Around the time Frederiksen and Abbas conversed about the unfolding humanitarian crisis, Israel was gearing up to launch a ground invasion of the besieged enclave where more than 8,000 people, many of them children, had already been killed by relentless Israeli air strikes.

When it came to the vote on the UN resolution, Copenhagen went on to abstain from the UN resolution, which rescinded an order by the occupying Israeli forces for the Palestinians to relocate from north to south of Gaza.

Even though the resolution is non-binding on the members, it holds significant political weight.

Denmark’s position is not only in line with its historical backing of Israel but also what Frederiksen has been publicly saying since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israeli territory. Denmark has put its weight behind Tel Aviv and omitted any mention of Palestinians from official statements, except for the occasion when Frederiksen rejected anyone who appeared to be “cheering for the gruesome things happening to the Palestinians.”

Denmark, which claims to value freedom of speech and civil rights, showed its double standards in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict early on.

‘Lacking sense of history’

On October 10, the Danish prime minister visited the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen to pay her respects to the Israelis killed in the Hamas attack. When a local TV2 reporter asked her about the “civilian victims on the Palestinian side,” Frederiksen offered a sharp rebuke, questioning the reporter’s “sense of history.”

“Mette Frederiksen, you have laid flowers and shown your support here in front of the Israeli embassy. Do you intend to do something similar to show sympathy to the Palestinian civilian population as well,” the reporter asked.

In response, the Danish premier said: “I have to admit that you contribute to relativising something that is not comparable. It is Hamas, a terrorist organisation that is attacking a democratic country, Israel. And Israel has the right to defend itself, and that will mean some sacrifices. It bears no comparison.”

She added: “The fact that a Danish journalist asks the question is, for me, deeply worrying and completely without history.”

The Danish prime minister’s response prompted a reaction from TV2’s head of news, Jacob Kwon, who said, “It can never be forbidden or a sign of bad journalism to ask how sympathy can be shown for civilian victims, regardless of which side of the conflict they are on.”

Kwon backed his reporter and termed the question posed to Denmark’s premier as “fair and legitimate.”

Roger Buch, 56, a Danish political scientist, says, “It is not very helpful when a prime minister is speaking in this way.”

He adds, “The criticism that she put forward to the journalist of lacking historical knowledge or sense of history, I think you can really argue the same when it comes to her comments on what is going on or has been going on in Palestine or now in Gaza.”

Last week, in the face of growing pro-Palestine protests across Denmark with thousands in participation, Frederiksen took to Instagram, once again expressing her support for Israel and saying that “anti-Semitism was alive and well” and that “it is horrible and shows that a group in Denmark has not taken our Danish values to heart.”

Buch takes an exception for her remarks, calling it “totally wrong” to equate pro-Palestine protests with anti-Semitism.

“I’m pro-Palestine in the way that I think Palestinians should have their own country and the two-state solution is the only solution, which also makes me pro-Israel. But I have zero backing for Hamas’s attacks on civilians, or the civilian losses Israel has inflicted on Palestinians over the past decades and since October 7,” he says.

“I think she mixes a lot of stuff that shouldn’t be mixed.”

Old habits die hard

Buch says it is very hard for Western leaders to divert far from their stated policies on Israel even with this “new turn in this tragic story” where Israel is using unprecedented firepower against the Palestinians.

“The Danish prime minister and the prime ministers before her haven’t been very vocal when it comes to condemning the brutal way that the Israeli police force and army forces are acting in the occupied territories in the West Bank or in Gaza,” the political scientist, who is an expert on local Danish politics, says.

“So, in reality, when they talk about or try to be balanced, it’s very easy to see that they haven’t been very balanced before this (October 7) incident.”

Frederiksen’s Instagram post is perhaps her most comprehensive statement yet on the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict and it appears to have resulted in divided opinions.

“What she’s really doing is that she’s alienating a lot of peaceful Palestinians living in Denmark,” Buch says in reference to Frederiksen questioning “Danish values” of her own citizens and equating their pro-Palestine protests with “terrorism.”

“From my perspective, she’s not balanced. She is actually putting blame on or at least creating a feeling of being under attack from peaceful Palestinians living in Denmark who have nothing to do with terrorism,” he says, adding that the prime minister has exposed herself and Denmark to criticism of “double standards,” when it comes to showing sympathy for civilians being killed.